Monitoring a Jockey Roller in a Surface Finishing System

Task

KBH Engineering GmbH in Koenigsbrunn manufactures special systems for surface finishing. In this system, a continuous feed lead strip coil is coated on both sides in one cycle. The coating must be evenly applied and it must dry quickly on the lead strip so that it is capable of withstanding very high stresses.

An even coating can only be achieved if the strip passes through the system at a constant speed. In order to realize continuous operation in a large technical system an incoming and outgoing goods memory is provided for several meters of strip material. One jockey roller balances out the pull and pressure produced by unrolling and rolling the strip. In this way, decoupling of the pulling stations to the raw material coil is achieved.

Fig. 1: Surface finishing system from KBH Engineering GmbH

Implementation

The Pepperl+Fuchs inclination sensor INX360D-F99-I2E2-V15 monitors the jockey roller. The controller evaluates the analog current signal 4 mA … 20 mA and delivers exact information about the incoming and outgoing goods memory with a resolution of 0.1°.

Fig. 2: Jockey roller with Pepperl+Fuchs inclination sensor

Customer Benefit

In earlier solutions, a drive potentiometer was used to query the jockey roller. This had to be special-ordered as a purpose-built item for the angle inclination. The installation was very time consuming. The new inclination sensor from Pepperl+Fuchs can be attached anywhere on the jockey roller rocker. With the Teach-In mode, the required deflection angle can be defined exactly over the entire current stroke from 4 mA … 20 mA.

In addition, this inclination sensor is non-contact and wear-free because of the spring-mass-rocker principle and does not need any mechanical adjustment. The current loop with 4 mA … 20 mA ensures trouble-free operation.

Pepperl+Fuchs is a leading developer and manufacturer of electronic sensors and components for the global automation market. Continuous innovation, enduring quality, and steady growth have been the foundation of our success for more than 70 years. Pepperl+Fuchs employs 6,000 people worldwide and has manufacturing facilities in Germany, USA, Singapore, Hungary, Indonesia and Vietnam, most of them ISO 9001 certified.